


Scythe In A Field Full Of Briars

by yaodai



Category: Bleach, Fairy Tail
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 04:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15923354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaodai/pseuds/yaodai
Summary: Mission requests about missing person and abandoned villages appear in numbers.Then a hunter appears too.





	Scythe In A Field Full Of Briars

Chapter One: Gravity Of The Situation

 

"Come on, Luce!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically, while not even looking at her. Instead his eyes were set on the Request Board on one of the walls of the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, while his face was locked in a wide, cheerful grin.

"I swear I saw something really cool yesterday!"

"Whatever," Lucy sighed. "I just need some pocket money, so don't pick anything crazy!"

“Pocket money?” Gray raised an eyebrow at her. He was much less enthusiastic than Natsu about getting a new job, even if he was usually the second most destructive person on their team. “Aren’t you always worried about your rent?”

“I’ve already paid it!” Lucy puffed her chest up proudly.

“It would be a smart thing to collect the money for the next month,” Erza nodded sagely. “Being prepared for everything is the key!”

“Then maybe be so kind and stop destroying everything in your path!” Lucy groaned.

One of the reasons why she was usually struggling so hard for money was her team. They were fantastic people, but they also didn’t understand the concept of being subtle. Or mistook it with overkilling everything.

Because of that almost every time they took a mission, most of they payment went for repairing all the things they have destroyed. Buildings were pretty damn expensive.

“It is not my fault that these cowards covered in fear in the basement!”

“You’ve obliterated the whole street! Street!”

“Well, the last time was good, wasn’t it?” Gray shrugged. “Middle of the desert, nobody really cared about us blowing up some sand here and there.”

And it was beautiful. Lucy had no idea she could earn so much with taking just one job. Despite being a city girl at heart, she would gladly venture out as far away from civilisation as it was possible, just to see money like that again.

“Let’s check on Natsu,” Lucy sighed deeply. Before he trashes the Guild Hall again.”

Even from afar it looked like he was about to do exactly that.

 

xxx

 

Natsu had an eye for that job since he saw it yesterday.  

He hadn't picked it up only because he was sure that Lucy was done with work and wanted some time to rest. Resting was fine with him, especially since Metalface was hanging around, so there was someone to punch in the face if Natsu felt like fighting. And if not him, then there always was that bastard Gray to smack over the head.

Natsu was about to grab the request, when someone smacked his hand away from the paper and snatched it. The whole thing wouldn't be too strange - the fights over request happened from time to time if it was something really cool - if not for the direction where no hand was supposed to be coming from. Or the rest of a person. 

But then there he was, a guy standing on the ceiling like it was nothing unusual. He was wearing boring looking trousers and a button up orange shirt with a tie. Which was pointing straight at the ceiling, no matter how many laws of gravity it was breaking by doing so. His blond hair, chopped up right at the jawline was also acting like it wasn't supposed to while you were standing upside-down.

"Hey!" Natsu protested. "Give that back, Horseface!"

The odd guy just snorted. "Mine."

"Since when?!"

"Since before you were in yer Momma's womb," the answer came in an instant. The guy wasn't even waiting for a response or a punch in the face, he just walked - still on the ceiling - away and left the building through the window.

"The hell is with this guy?!" Natsu growled. "Who the heck is he anyway?!"

"Oh, right!" Wakaba laughed. "You probably hadn't meet the guy yet."

"Now I have," Natsu grumped. "He's an ass."

"Yeah, pretty much," Wakaba rolled his eyes. "He showed up one day, no hello no kiss my ass to anyone. Made a beeline straight to the Master, like the guy got a tracing spell on him and five minutes later we had a new person with a Fairy Tail mark."

"How come we never saw him before?" Lucy furrowed her brow. "Is he that new?"

"Joined a few weeks ago," Wakaba said with a shrug. "But It's not that surprising that you have not meet him. The guy shows up only for a few minutes. He picks up a request - usually a bunch of them at once - and then leaves."

"A bunch?" Lucy furrowed her brow. "And the Master allows it?"

"He wasn't too happy, but Hirako - that's the weirdo name, by the way - never came back with even a scratch. And he's not picking up the pocket-money kind of stuff."

"He's probably just lucky, " Natsu pouted. "That bastard!"

He tried to do something like that too, even checked with the map if the requests were close by to each other, but the only thing he received was a severe scolding. And there was, a total newbie, doing whatever he fancied!   
Natsu really wanted to punch those too straight teeth right out of his face!

"What was the mission about anyway?" Lucy asked.

"A really cool stuff!" Natsu almost jumped in place, still pretty agitated over the whole thing. "People disappearing all over the place at that city! I'm sure some invisible monster is snatching them! You know, Lucy? An  invisible monster!"

"Ah, right," Wakaba muttered. "Hirako is picking up only stuff like that."

"Huh?" Lucy blinked. "What do you mean?"

"People disappearing, possible kidnappings, investigating new ghost cities and invisible monsters. He's not interested in anything else."

"That's pretty weird," Lucy muttered, putting a finger to her chin. "Is he looking for something?"

"Dunno," Wakaba grimaced. "It's not like he's talking to anyone. Even Mira got maybe half of a word out of him. But people usually do have reasons to act like they do. They got stories, you know." 

Lucy nodded and looked away, embarrassment clearly visible on her face.

Right, Natsu blinked.

She was one of those people that came to the guild with stories and trouble followed her. But she talked to people, was nice and knew cool stuff, while that guy was just… not her. Even Gajeel, the bastard, managed to up his people skills a bit and actually behave around other people.    
And he wasn’t stealing the fun jobs.

Nasu huffed angrily, hands crossed on his chest.

If they were not going to hunt down an invisible monster he needed to simply find something equally fun on the mission board.

xxx

 

Makarov Dreynar was a man of strong faith, especially when it came to young people.

Many of the members of his guild were young children that he treated like his own. Lots of them came seeking shelter, lost and distrustful and without any other choice.    
He still could clearly remember how miserable some of them were and how long it took for few among his most trusted people to stop acting like the Fairy Tail was just another trap, ready to close its bear claws at any moment.

Sometimes however, ever he had doubts. His own grandson made so many mistakes... Other people would just condemn him, but Makarov decided to just give him time. The gamble was worth it, the boy managed to find his way back home, even if it was a rough path.

There was also Gajeel, a troubled young man who came bringing destruction and pain to his precious children, just to turn into a very useful ally. The old master still felt pangs of guilt, since in the very beginning he just planned to use the young man. He needed a spy at a time and Gajeel was conveniently there, alone and in need for money and guild.

  
Makarov tried explain how sorry he was several days, but it didn't work too well. Faithful to his nature, Redfox told him to stuff it. Then he explained that spying was a very entertaining thing to do.    
For the sake of his own sanity, he decided to not think about the whole thing too much. It was enough to know that now the Iron Dragon Slayer was safe and making bonds that clearly had a healthy influence for his mind.

Currently, the Third Master of Fairy Tail Guild was trying to decide what was his opinion about the person who joined his children not too long ago.

Hirako Shinji, no matter how one looked at him,had something deeply unsettling about him. Something so very off, that Makarov couldn't help himself, but tense up and wait for an accident to happen. 

Hirako was an oddity from the very moment he stepped into the Guild Hall.   
He walked through the doors and then through the storm of a drunken brawl like he was taking a stroll through the park. Face expressionless, eyes dead set on some point right in front of him.

What was more interesting, was the fact that he was not hit, pushed away or even forced to dodge out of the way of some flying object. No, he walked in a perfectly straight line, each of his steps timed in a way that allowed him avoid everything by millimeters. It looked like magic but it wasn’t and it looked like he completely didn’t care about the mad brawl and shouting and Makarov wondered.

Then, he was standing right in front of him, high and thin, with  hair that were probably supposed to be cut in a symmetric way, but something went wrong - the fringe was cut on the side, breaking the effect and making him look even more odd.

"Hiya," he said. The tone of his voice was between cocky and something Makarov couldn't quite put his finger on.

"May I help you?" 

"You're the Guildmaster, right?" he tilted his head slightly. "I want in."

"Would you care to say why you decided to choose the Fairy Tail?" Makarov asked, smiling gently, putting his very best kind grandpa impression. "I don't think I ever saw you in Magnolia before, so you must be a traveler."

"You may say I move a lot," the young man shrugged. "I just need a job, and since here you have to be a member of a guild to do that..."

He made a vague gesture with his hands.

"So here I am."

"A job, you say?” Makarov hummed. “What sort of a job?"

"I hunt monsters, obviously!" He grinned. The smile was wide and toothy and the teeth were as symmetric as the rest of him, disturbing and bordering on something almost unnatural.

Makarov raised an eyebrow. The young man didn't look like he was all that muscular, but if someone could spend a whole evening talking about how look could be deceiving, Makarov would definitely be the person to do that, considering how his own magic worked. 

The newcomer also had a sheathed katana, resting comfortably on his hip. By the way he was standing and how he was walking, he was definitely no stranger of how to handle a weapon.

"Well, I think I would need your name," Makarov said, deciding to give the youth a chance. "Paperwork is going to be quite difficult without that one."

"Right," the blonde grinned again. "Hirako Shinji."

"Nice to meet you then, Hirako. Now, can you tell me something about what sort of magic are you using?"

"You may say that I toy a bit around... gravity." The slight pause was impossible to not notice amd definitely there for him to notice. He was clearly waiting for a some sort of a reaction.

Makarov had a hard time trying to not smirk.    
Many people decided to keep their abilities hidden, believing that the secrecy would give them an edge in a fight. Others were afraid that someone, after learning too much, would find their weaknesses and stab them in the back. Trust was something that couldn't be earned in an instant. 

He wondered which one this Hirako Shinji was.

"So?" Hirako raised eyebrows. "Where do I sign and when can I pick a little something to occupy my time with?"

"Aren't you in hurry," Makarov chuckled.

"Well, you know how young people are," it was supposed to be a joke, but behind the words, there was a hidden depth and amount of snide that he couldn't quite understand. "Always hurrying somewhere, always in a rush."

"It's just me, or are you talking like an old man?"

"I'm aging reeeally well," Hirako's grin widened, making him look like a creepy version of a Cheshire cat. Another joke Makarov couldn't understand. 

"Go give these to Mira, she's the pretty young woman tending to our bar," Makarov said, handing Hirako half-finished forms of his registration. "She should also help you with other stuff."

"Sure thing!" Hirako said in annoyingly cheerful tone, turned on his heel and walked straight in the direction of the bar. 

The still ongoing brawl between several of the guild members was currently right in his path, steadily growing into a chaotic, destructive storm.   
Makarov observed with curiosity just what that odd person would do.   
Many tried to wait the fights out, others decided against joining the guild altogether, scared by the brawl, some other unfortunate souls tried to tell their seniors to behave like adults. 

For some reason, walking all the way up to one of the walls, then walking literally up the wall like it was the most normal thing to do wasn't what Makarov expected. 

Well, at least now he knew that Hirako was using magic connected to the forces of gravity, just like he said.

A wall wasn't the end of his chosen shortcut; Hirako walked up all the way towards the ceiling and then stepped onto the ceiling itself. Walking upside down, right above the ongoing brawl... well, it was something. At least now Makarov knew that the boy wouldn't require help in case the rest of the Fairy Tail would go too crazy over smashing each others heads.

Mira seemed to not have any much trouble with conversing with someone who was currently ignoring the forces of gravity, smiled at the young man with her usual sweetness.

Then the brawl turned too close to him for Makarov liking and when he finally managed to put his foot down, Hirako wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

Days passed by one after another and the newest member of the Fairy Tail was taking his time with getting used to the guilt, usually showing up for few short minutes before disappearing again. At least he wasn’t putting the entire guilt to sleep like Mystogan used to do.   
He just hoped it wasn’t another story like that, overcomplicated and utterly convoluted. He was too old for things like that.

  
  


"Pops?" Laxus didn't exactly surprised him showing up just like that - it would be quite hard to not notice the exact moment Laxus was walking into the guildhall, considering how popular among the other members he was. Besides, he definitely wasn't the one to hide in the shadows.

Still, Makarov had to leave working out what sort of a person was that Hirako boy for later. Especially considering the perplexed expression on Laxus' face.    
His grandson sometimes was too serious for his own good, but still, Makarov was good at telling apart when Laxus tried to act with dignity for the sake of looking dignified and when the gravity of the situation demanded serious treatment.

This was the second one. 

"You're here, Laxus?"

"I sometimes DO visit home," his grandson grunted and puffed up, the overgrown rooster. "Anyhow, a Council officer bumped into me when I was on my way here."

Makarov sighed deeply. "Are you in trouble?"

"What?" Laxus gasped. "No! Why this is the first that comes to your mind anyway?!"

"Well..." the chuckle escaped his mouth before Makarov managed to swallow it.

Laxus just made another rumbling noise.

"Whatever. Anyhow, there was a mission that landed on our board that ended up reclassified."

It wasn’t exactly something that happened every other day, but it wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence either. Usually it was just a letter or a message send through a Lacrima crystal, not Council Officers bugging known members of the guild on the streets.

"Oh?" Makarov gestured his grandson to come closer, to continue talking.

"Yeah," Laxus nodded. "Jumped right into S-ranked stuff. I've already talked to Mira about finding the blasted request and moving it before some idiot could grab it."

"Good," Makarov nodded. "Did they gave you a reason why it changed? Or why the Council is so interested in things like that?"

"No explanation given," Laxus shrugged. "You might talk to your guys about that, or something. The guy pretty much ran away as soon as he handed me the files."

"Thank you for bringing it to me, my boy."

"Master?" Mira sneaked a glance inside through the doors before she walked in, her brow furrowed. "I think we might have a problem with that reclassified mission."

"It was already taken, wasn't it?" Makarov groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It was," Mira nodded.

"Do you know who...?"

"Not yet, but I'm going to look into it," Mira promised. "With a little bit of luck, whoever took the request is still in Magnolia.

Naturally, in a situations like that, luck wasn't their thing.

The request was took by no one else but Hirako and by this point it was a common knowledge that he was showing up only for a few short moments before wandering out again. And a few hours already passed since his last visit.

"Now, this is troubling..." he muttered, massaging the sides of his head.

"Don't worry, Master!" Mira said, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. "I really don't think that Hirako is stupid. If the situation is too much for him, he would surely turn back!"

"Sometimes you can't do that, you know," Laxus pointed out.

She looked him right in the eye, one of her eyebrows twitching slightly. "Shush, you!"

"Okay, okay!" he raised both of his hands in defensive manner. "Stupid, he probably isn't and you yourself said, that's he seems to be quite capable, right?"

Mira nodded. "Never before saw him with even a scratch. That's something, considering the other guys tend to come back all covered in bruises and sometimes even with a cast!"

"Let’s talk to the guys first," Laxus decided. "Maybe someone knows where he lives, or something."

"He was keeping mostly to himself," Mira pointed out.

"Yeah, but someone could still see him, even by an accident. It's not like some of the members aren't kinda stalky when they want to be."

"Good idea," Makarov nodded. "Ask someone to check the train schedule too. Or other methods of transportation, maybe he's one of those people who prefer to rent a chariot instead."

"Seriously?"

"Well, considering how many missions he already took..." Mira muttered. "I'm pretty sure he had enough money to spare for such things."

"Whatever," Laxus shrugged. "Just be ready for a whole lot of shouting, the idiot team is home."

"You mean, Natsu and guys?" Mira asked.

"Who else?"

"Mira, after you're done with informing the other guild members about the issue with the reclassified request I want you to go over the other taken missions. I want to know if there's someone close to the location of that reclassified one."

"You think this is something serious?" Mira asked with worried voice.

"Well, it's not like the Council is bugging into stuff like that for no apparent reason," Laxus grunted. "Something off is going on, odd enough to make them do shit that isn't arresting people."

“You’re not getting arrested that often.”

“In what world that sentence is a good thing?!”

The good news was, the news travelled quick in the Fairy tail guild. They’ve talked to just few people and already found people that saw Hirako before he left the building.

The bad thing was, it was the most destructive team from their guild, because of course it was.

"We should go after him!" Natsu shouted the moment Makarov finished describing the situation, fists literally fired up.

"That... doesn't sound like a good idea," Lucy muttered, stepping slightly to the side, to not get caught in a fireball. "You heard the master, that stuff is dangerous!"

"And since when we don't do dangerous?" Natsu pouted.

"True," Lucy sighed deeply.

"Besides," Natsu chuckled. "Imagine his stupid face when he sees us saving his butt!"

"...that's why you want to save him?" makarov pinched the bridge of his nose. The migraine was coming, he could feel it, and it was a great one. 

"Well, he is a Fairy Tail mage too," Natsu just shrugged, oblivious to his own social failure. "But yeah, I want to save him to rub that into his ugly mug. That would teach him, for stealing my mission!"

“Yeah, sure ,why not,” Gray just shrugged. “We can pick up a rescue mission.”

“Who told that you can go?” Laxus growled at them, eyes narrowed and glaring down at the other dragon slayer and his team. “This is an S-class quest, you can’t just go on those as you fancy!”

“Erza is an S-Class mage,” Gray shrugged. “She’s going, we’re… cheering her up.”

Erza glared at him.

“This is not a laughing matter!” she scolded him. “Someone might be in danger and you are acting like a spoiled child!”

“Are you with us or against?” Natsu hissed quietly. 

Erza took a deep breath.

“My proposal is: we are not going on the mission!” she stated loudly.

Natsu protested, but she silenced him him by a single smack on the mouth without even looking at him.

“What we are going to do,” Erza continued. “Is finding Hirako Shinji and bringing him home before he reaches the place where the request is placed!”

Laxus grit his teeth, while Gray smirked.

“Clever.”

"This is troubling," Master sighed. "But we don't leave our people when they need help. You might go."

He was probably going to regret this one.

On the other hand, this team already proved that they can perform extremely well in difficult situation and were no strangers to quests going awry. 

"Really?!" Natsu gasped. "Yes! I knew that you know that I'm awesome!"

"...it's more because that you are not going to be alone," Makarov continued. "Miss Levy’s team together with Gajeel took a mission not far from where you are heading."

"You want us to find them before starting looking for Hirako and trouble?" Lucy guessed.

"Precisely," the old man nodded. "I believe that the two of your teams should be able to at least safely retrieve Hirako."

"We are going to save the guy and kick some ass!"

"Just do remember that saving a life is the priority."

“I’m gonna punch him so hard!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm digging up through my WIP files and picking up things that could work out.  
> I really enjoy this idea, because Hirako had great chemistry with whoever he's stuck with.


End file.
